Photographs enable historical Main St tour

Unearthing history Hokonui Heritage Research Centre curator Bruce Cavanagh is putting together a pictorial history of Gore's Main St. PHOTO: MARGARET PHILLIPS

Bruce Cavanagh has put together a pictorial historical walk down Main St which will enlighten people about the history of the many buildings that are a familiar sight every day.

In some cases, the buildings of yesteryear are now gone, as fires or natural attrition have taken their toll.

The Hokonui Heritage Research Centre research officer is to present the walk using images from the Gore Historical Museum collection.

The pictorial walk is one of the events scheduled in the Southland Heritage Month itinerary. It is to be held at 7pm tonight at the Gore RSA function room and is free to attend.

Those attending will learn what the Hokonui Heritage Centre team has discovered about the people who invested in the town, in the form of its substantial buildings and the businesses that have operated throughout the decades.

Mr Cavanagh said not every building would feature, but there would be a good selection.

The pictorial tour would highlight not only the town’s rich history but underscore the growth of the town since it began.

Main St was very different in the 1890s.

Back in the day .This photograph of the Ambrose building on the corner of Main and Medway Sts, which was built in 1906 and housed businesses such Mrs Learmont’s boarding house, is among buildings to be explored in a pictorial essay.

One building to come under the spotlight would be the Thomas Green Public House and Dining Room, Mr Cavanagh said.

The building would be shown as it was now, after extensive renovation which had included keeping the facade, and what it originally looked like, he said.

The presentation would peel back the layers of history to reveal buildings’ origins.

Mr Cavanagh likened the presentation to an archaeological dig.

“We just go back in time,” he said.

Up to date This photograph shows the Ambrose building after a makeover and it became the Thomas Green Public House and Dining Room.PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Curator Stephanie Herring said the talk could be of interest to people working in Main St buildings. They would gain an insight into who inhabited those buildings in the early days.